1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer-readable image information recording medium which records image data obtained from a film or a digital camera together with property information thereof, such as the title and the date of recording, and to a image processing system which generates the recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
A photograph finishing system which prints accompanying information such as the date of photographing obtained at the time of photographing by an APS camera on the back of a photographic print has been known. In the Exif format, which is a file format of an image obtained by a digital camera, it is also a rule to add accompanying information such as the date of photographing as tag information of image data. This information is used by personal computer software when the image data are input from a digital camera to the personal computer.
Meanwhile, a digital output service which records digital images read from a film in a Photo CD, an MO disc, or the like, and provides the storage medium to a customer has been carried out. As an image file format appropriate for the digital output service, a structured storage file called a FlashPix file has been proposed by Eastman Kodak Co.
As a system to carry out such a digital output service, a photograph finishing system which carries out photographic print generation and outputting to a recording medium at simultaneously with film reading has been proposed in U.S. Ser. No. 08/974,888. This photograph finishing system comprises a film scanner, image processing means, a printer, and a medium drive. This system reads a developed film by the film scanner feeding the film automatically, carries out image processing appropriate for print output or for output to a recording medium on image data having been obtained, and outputs the processed image data by the printer and the medium drive simultaneously or alternately.
Another system, such as a system which further comprises a function to input an image from a digital camera or a recording medium has also been proposed (see U.S. Ser. No. 08/974,888).
FIG. 2 shows an outline of such a system. Image data obtained from a digital camera 9 or a film 10 are processed by an image handling apparatus 7. The processed image data are reproduced as a photographic print 11 by a photographic printer 8 and also recorded as an image file in a recording medium such as a CD-R 12.
The above FlashPix file records various kinds of property information on image data together with the image data in one file. The property information includes the date of file generation, the kind of an image source (an image read from a film or input from a digital camera), and the size of a first print, for example.
When a photographic image is stored as a file and will be reproduced later, it is preferable that accompanying information obtained at the time of photographing, such as the above information for image generation in a laboratory, the date of photographing, the aspect ratio, and usage of flash at the time of photographing, is also stored to be used effectively later in the reproduction of the image. Furthermore, upon generating a file, it is preferable for a system to comprise a function which can automatically input the information such as the above to a file, without having an operator input the information.